When: 12 noon on May 8, 2006
Where: Commonwealth Club Gold Room, 595 Market St, San Francisco, 94105 - (415) 597-6700
Space is limited.
http://www.commonwealthclub.org/mlf.html#donnell
Title: Great Power in quicksand: Vestiges of Rome in Modern Day Iraq The fate of Rome in Mesopotamia remains relevant for modern policy makers. Why? Because the Roman Empire faded into history at the dawn of the first pan-Arab state, and many on the so-called "Arab Street" now dearly hope this same fate might befall the United States. Provost Jim O'Donnell has a unique perspective on modern-day Iraq, thanks to his stature as one of the foremost experts on St. Augustine. St. Augustine of Hippo was at the same time a born-again Christian and an African, an anti-Semite and a theological fountainhead of Reformation theology on
grace. Dr. O'Donnell will use an Augustinian lens to examine the weaknesses and strengths that led to the decline of the Roman Empire and eventual rise of the Ottoman Empire, and he'll share a better perspective for understanding our world today. James J. O'Donnell received his Ph.D. from Yale, and then spent over two decades at the University of Pennsylvania in History and computer information systems. In 2002 he became Provost at Georgetown University. He has published nine books with a tenth forthcoming, and for the past decade has served as co-editor of /NewJour/. Please join us for what promises to be an educational and controversial evening
examining a long-ago nation at the periphery of the first global power, and a modern-day failed state at the far reaches of the latest global power.
COMMONWEALTH CLUB MEMBERS AND GEORGETOWN CLUB MEMBERS ONLY (member + one guest)-->11:30 a.m., Check-in 12:00 p.m., Program Club office, 595 Market St., 2nd floor, San Francisco Free for Members, $15 for Non-members Program Organizer: Parisa Nesva Derani Co-sponsored by the Georgetown Club of Northern California.
